MORTON — The Notre Dame girls soccer team will not be going to Naperville this weekend.

But the Irish were a lot closer to packing up the bus for a trip to the Chicago suburb than many might have expected them to be.

Going toe-to-toe with the defending Class 2A state champs on Tuesday night at the Morton Supersectional, the Irish had plenty of fight but not enough scoring in a 2-1 overtime loss to Chatham Glenwood.

An 83rd minute goal by Kassidy Sheedy, her second of the game, proved the difference for the Titans (16-4-2), who will continue their title defense Friday in the state semifinals at North Central College in Naperville.

“That game is really kind of what we’re all about,” ND coach Matt Blackford said. “We fought and fought and fought and fought, we just couldn’t quite put one away.

“We never quit. I told them that’s what I’ll remember most about this game is that they never quit, never stopped and tried to win for as long as they could.

“If we had five more minutes, you never know what could have happened.”

Notre Dame (19-5-2) played to a 1-1 draw with Chatham earlier in the season and was not intimidated in the rematch at McClallen Park’s Rotary Field. At times, the Irish even looked more dangerous, with all-state junior Elizabeth Mills leading an attack that put six shots on goal and just as many off of it.

“Peoria Notre Dame played outstanding tonight,” Chatham coach Jay Lipe said. “I thought three-fourths of the game they really took it at us.”

The Irish signaled their intentions early on, as near-misses by Macy Martin and Kristen Slomba in the game’s opening minutes quickly put the Chatham defense on alert.

ND’s attack may have opened the door for the Titans. A quick counter resulted in a goal for Sheedy, who raced past her defender before sending a shot back across the goal and past the reach of Irish goalkeeper Jenna Ashley for a goal 10:57 into the match.

Notre Dame nearly pulled level before the half when Mills freed herself of a defender at the edge of the box to set up a strike on goal before being denied by both Chatham goalkeeper Mara Cunningham and the crossbar.

After a few squashed attempts, Mills finally got what she was looking for midway through the second half.

Slomba split a pair of Titans defenders with a through ball that threaded the Chatham back line and left Mills in a footrace with Cunningham in front of the goal. Mills slid to beat Cunningham to the ball, and poked it into the net to tie the match at 1-1 with 14:54 to play.

Page 2 of 2 - Both sides had opportunities to win down the stretch in regulation, but both goalkeepers came up big to send the match into overtime, where Sheedy scored 2:06 in to give Chatham a lasting lead.

“Whoever scored last was gonna win it,” Blackford said. “Unfortunately for us, they got one there in the OT, and we just couldn’t quite get to the back of the net. We had some nice chances, but couldn’t link up when we needed to.”

Josh Wessler can be reached at 686-3214 or jwessler@pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @joshwessler.